Shawn Stiffler
Assistant Coach

Every since his grandfather, former big leaguer, Tom Qualters took him to games as a child, Stiffler has had a knack for eyeing up talent on the baseball diamond.

Now in his fourth season with the Black & Gold, he serves as the pitching coach and recruiting for the prestigious VCU program.

In his nine seasons as an assistant, Stiffler, 31, has coached 26 MLB draft picks, 13 of which he personally recruited, 11 of those 13 were pitchers. He has coached nine All-Americans, two conference player of the year award winners, 39 All-CAA honorees and one Johnny Bench finalist (awarded to the best catcher in all of college baseball).

Stiffler's success on the recruiting trail has been a constant throughout his coaching career and is recently coming off signing a top-40 class for the Rams in 2009, ranked by Collegiate Baseball.

His impact at VCU was immediate, helping the Rams to the 2007 CAA title and 37 wins in just his first season. His mentorship of junior transfer Luke Pisker transformed into one of the most dominant seasons ever by a Black & Gold hurler with nine wins and 11 saves under his guidance. Pisker was later taken in the 17th round of the MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals.

Since his arrival in Richmond, four Rams hurlers have inked professional contracts. Pisker joined Mick Mattaliano with the Baltimore Orioles, John Leonard with the Kansas City Royals and Cody Eppley with the Texas Rangers.

His success started way before his arrival at VCU, spending five years as an assistant at his alma mater, George Mason. While with the Patriots, he saw the team ERA get lower each season and in 2005 oversaw the third-lowest ERA in school history at 4.03.

Stiffler earned a B.A. degree in communications from George Mason in December, 2001, after a four-year career as a pitcher for the Patriots. He is a 1997 graduate of Somerset High School, where he earned honorable mention All-America honors from USA Today and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 53rd round. He was also an outstanding basketball player at Somerset.

He currently resides in Richmond and is married to his wife, Jenn.